Shortly before last month’s mayoral primary in Pittsburgh an attack ad began airing criticizing one of the mayoral candidates. The ad was paid for by an anonymous third party and ordinarily the search into its provenance would have stopped there. But last year the FCC changed disclosure rules for anonymous attack ads. Brooke talks to Tim McNulty, political reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, about who paid for the ad and why.

An article published by the Washington Post reported that the government wants to create public super WiFi networks that could potentially replace the ISPs most people use now. The piece was linked and posted all over the internet, but there was one tiny problem: it was wrong. Bob talks to Ars Technica writer Jon Brodkin about the inaccuracies in the reporting and what the FCC’s proposal might actually mean.  

Back in January, OTM reported on an FCC proposal that would require local television stations to disclose political ad buys online. According to an article by ProPublica, the National Associations of Broadcasts has sued to block the proposal from taking effect.

In January, we covered a proposal to put the 'public files' of television stations online and the broadcaster's objections to the move. A public file, which stations are legally required to keep, contains information about what organizations are buying political ads and how much they've paid for each ad. Brooke speaks with Justin Elliott, reporter at ProPublica about a recent FCC ruling that will require some stations to put the files online.

Billy Bragg and Wilco - Union Prayer

Earlier this month, the California 9th Circuit court of appeals decided a case called Minority Television Project v. FCC. The case concerned San Francisco station KTMP, a public television station that had been fined for carrying paid corporate advertisements. The 9th circuit upheld the ruling, and in the process, struck down a more than half-century old ban on political and issue advertisements airing on public airwaves.

The non-profit Media Access Project has advocated on behalf of consumers in the areas of media diversity, freedom of expression and universal communication access for almost 40 years. But now the funding well has run dry and the organization is closing its doors. Bob speaks to Andrew Schwartzman who has been MAP's policy director for more than 30 years.